Can someone finally tell me what draft I have?

[ussvdharma]

NO ! No one can but you can. Draft is distance the bottom of you keel is below the water line...put on you bikini and measure it...but it will change according to how much hunk you have aboasrd. and it will decrease when you heel the boat. one way to get off when you hit bottom fill dinghy with water run line from top of mast to dingy....crank on windlass and heel the bot a little. de Susan W7KFI and 7Q7M

[Dogscout]

Did Jenn offer different keel options for that boat the year it was made? They have the correct number based on design and test.

While measuring from the bottom to what appears to be the waterline where the scum line shows is not always accurate it will give you one number you need. The other is the position of you DST transducer.

You could drop a line and go for a swim.

[TrentePieds]

Why would you want to know your draft with absolute precision???

Given that the precise draft changes with the amount of clobber you are carrying at any given time, with how many bods you have aboard and with how full your tanks are, "seven feet, more of less", is good enuff.

Spurious precision just complicates life. My design draft is 4' 7 5/8". That's a completely useless bit of knowledge in the operation of the boat, so why bother with it?

If your boat specs say 7 feet, just conduct yourself as if it we 8 feet. If you are hauling the boat, let the chaps in the yard worry about how to set up the TraveLift and the cradle.

As ChrisMac sez: you do want to set you depth sounder to measure the depth of water below the keel. That's the important bit.

Depending on just where your transponder is located you may then be able to get by without a sounding lead. With a five foot draft it's a piece of cake. From the pulpit in TP you can see bottom in most circumstances. In our rock and pinnacle infested waters that's a great boon. Just like in a car, go at a speed that permits you to stop within the distance you can actually see.

TrentePieds

[altinr]

Measure from the ground to the waterline..

[Belezar]

If there are 2 options, and they are a foot and a half different (approximately) then it should be pretty easy to tell. That’s a big difference so it should be easy even with imperfect measurements.

[waterman46]

I find true loaded draft and precisely calibrate my depth sounder quite easily - simply find a gently sloping area of bottom free of rocks or coral. Ease up on it until you touch, then use a lead weight on a string over the side to touch bottom. Also known as a "lead line". I'm sure you already have one at the bottom of a locker. Before you leave, calibrate the depth sounder: either note the reading when aground or use the offset feature.


Oh, don't do this on a falling tide.

[jim King]

That post on running aground isn't such a bad idea. I actually used this method to see how true my depth gauge was. I very gently ran my boat into a sand bar at about 0 knots speed and watched as the depth gauge came to zero and felt the sand bar gently touch the bottom. We then used a long bamboo pole to determine the actual draft. Having gotten an accurate measure we easily backed off the sand bar.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Zzmeyer

Jeanneau's tend to have deep (standard) draft. My 42DS had a 7 foot draft, same as my Beneteau Sense 50. My 349 is 6'6". You might find an area with 6'11" of water and see if you can run aground.

I love the wry humor of running her aground. That was my first thought on such a question when she is on the hard. Gee the ground might not be level. Don't use the ant hill on the starboard side as a datum.

[noylddot]

The Sun Odyssey Shoal draft has a winged keel. Yours is not the shoal draft.

[aqfishing]

Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill!!!

Wow!

1 - Grab a tape and measure your draft Ffs!

2 - If I need to tell you how to do this with your yacht on the hard then I suggest you sell it and buy a new car rather!

3 - measure the distance from the water line to your transducer.

4 - if I need to explain 3 then read 2!

5- Set the offset on your depth sounder. If you clever you will allow for a little extra.

6 - If you don’t understand 5, then read 2!

7- You don’t want to have to keep calculating your clearance. Set it up so it tells you how much water is under your keel! This is more important than knowing how deep the water is, you can always add the depth of your keel back if you really want to know the actual water depth. If you know your transducer is 3ft below your waterline then leave the offset at 0. That way you will always have a 3ft safety margin!

9- Don’t forget the take the tide into account when you first measure your draft

[TrentePieds]

Maybe we are all doing the OP an injustice. Maybe the OP didn't mean to ask about his draft - what he meant to ask about is what kind of jenny he has, hoping that we could discern that by looking at the pic!

TP

[TBear60]

For practical purposes, you don't need the exact draft. Here's why.

You'll never want to take your boat into water of the same draft as your boat!

You'll need to know what depth of water is safe. If you're in a flat anchorage and your draft is about 6.5 feet, then you'll probably want water at least 12 feet deep; in a flat anchorage.

If your anchorage might get rolly, you'd be safer in 20 feet. With waves rolling in, the depth will vary by half the height of the waves; that is, plus or minus say 3 feet for 6 foot rollers! If the MLW is 15 feet and low tide is -3 then you've got 15-3= 12 feet. Then subtract 3 feet for the minus side of the rollers. Effectively, you've got a potential for as little as 9 feet. That's kinda close for comfort if you're drafting about 7 feet!

If you're just transiting a passage, then you calculate from MLLW as shown on the chart (or spot depths on a chartplotter). Check your tidal range and do the math. Better safe than sorry, I say. If your draft could be 5 feet or could be 7 feet, I'd just rather use 7 feet. The two feet you may have to spare is negligle in a practical sense!

[aqfishing]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Maybe we are all doing the OP an injustice. Maybe the OP didn't mean to ask about his draft - what he meant to ask about is what kind of jenny he has, hoping that we could discern that by looking at the pic!

TP

Hard to tell from the pic, Jenny has weather gear">foul weather gear on while cleaning the hull.

But looking closely at the pic I would say either blonde or brunette, but could be a red head!

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Good call! But it wasn't on the hard... they just pulled it for a powerwash and then threw her back in the water immediately.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Well, just for grins& giggles, I'll pile on here for the "measurement challenged."


You have that nice photo.
You should know the max beam of your boat, which is clear in the photo.
Measure the max beam and scale the keel depth.


Perhaps you'd like some help in knowing what "scale" means and how to use it, but for someone who has expressed difficulty with a tape measure...:smile : My fingers would be too tired explaining that how-to-scale concept, but I gotta give the other respondents congratulations for their patience and humor.


And yours, too, CHL.

[Martkimwat]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Luke

I have a 2011 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409 and to this day I still don't know what draft I have...

According to Sailboat Data:

https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/su...y-409-jeanneau

My draft is:
Draft (max): 6.89 ft / 2.10 m
OR...
Shoal draft: 1.55m/5.09'

Marina friends tell me that there's no way that my draft is almost 7 feet... but, I also don't think it's 5 feet. See photo attached...

What say ye?

Attachment 226228

Assuming it is sitting level in the slings, the jet washer is not a midget and the keel appears to be almost touching the ground, I would say it is easily 7 foot plus
(the water line is well above the jet washers head by at least a foot or more)